About
Jeremy McCoy is Assistant Principal double bass with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In addition to his orchestral duties, he maintains an active role as soloist, chamber musician, studio session player and teacher.
Born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Jeremy received his earliest musical training on the piano and as a chorister. An introduction to double bass during middle school developed into a keen interest and, at age fourteen, he began formal studies with David Currie. Summers spent at Interlochen and with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada included additional instruction with Oscar Zimmerman, Winston Budrow and Swedish bassist Torvald Fredin.
With assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and other organizations, Jeremy continued his studies with Roger Scott at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. Serving as principal of the Canadian Chamber Orchestra under maestro Klaus Tennstedt was a highlight of his student years. At age twenty, Jeremy won a position with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. The following season he joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Jeremy has been presented in recital at Lincoln Center and on CBC Radio. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, Lake Tahoe Summerfest, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and Musica Viva of New York. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the Arditti, Borodin, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard and Tokyo string quartets and with many other distinguished artists. He has performed at Bargemusic and at summer festivals including Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Banff, Affinis Festival (Japan), Kneisel Hall, Grand Tetons, Bowdoin, Lincoln Center Festival, Appalachian Summer Festival, Academy of Music Festival, Ottawa International Music Festival, Music and Beyond, Music Festival of the Hamptons and Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.
Pursuing his interest in new music, Jeremy was a founding member of Sequitur and Ensemble Sospeso and also appeared regularly with Speculum Musicae. With these acclaimed groups he has presented premiere performances and recordings of chamber works by many influential contemporary composers.
Jeremy has recorded orchestral works for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, London-Decca, Phillips, Erato and CBC Records and chamber works for Koch Classics, Albany, Naxos, CRI, Mode Records and Concord Jazz. As a commercial session player, he has performed on dozens of feature film soundtracks and has recorded string tracks for a diverse group of popular artists. Jeremy’s two solo recordings have garnered both popular and critical praise. An eclectic collection of duos, Dialogues with Double Bass, was released on Bridge Records in 2005. Baroque Legacy (2012), featuring the gamba sonatas of JS Bach, is available on MSR Classics.
Jeremy currently serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Montclair State University and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He has presented master classes at leading schools of music in the United States, Canada, Sweden and Japan and has contributed articles to Strings Magazine.
Jeremy performs on an exceptional instrument made in 1749 by the Venetian luthier Domenico Busan and on double basses by Alfred Meyer of Markneukirchen, Germany (1946) and Tetsu Suzuki, Cremona, Italy (2015). He uses strings from Pirastro.